You Don't Need to be a Loner (To Save the World)
by sudoku
Summary: To Christine's chagrin, Stephen took it upon himself to protect the Earth from Thanos. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Tony Stark offered his help. Just a speculation for Infinity War. Part 2 of "The Adventures of Stephen Strange and His Super Awesome Cloak of Levitation."
1. The Loner

-Unbetaed so if you see any mistakes, please let me know.  
-Spoilers to Doctor Strange and speculation about Thor:Ragnarok.  
-It's a speculation about Infinity War so everything will be jossed soon.

* * *

Stephen was poring over scriptures to find a way to defeat Thanos in the New York Sanctum. Apparently, Thanos hadn't been defeated before so he didn't have any source material. He hated that. He used to always come to a battle or an operation, that felt like a life time ago, well-prepared or at least with a workable plan. Now he was in the dark. He growled and threw the scripture he was holding on the floor.

The Cloak which he had named Sophie to Christine's chagrin fluttered. Both collars patted his shoulders in comforting manners.

He looked at his phone and saw there were three miscalls from Christine. _How could he not hear that?_ Apparently he was in the zone as she used to call it when he performed an operation. _That_ certainly didn't stop him from enjoying the music and naming the album and the singer before. _That_ shouldn't excuse him for not hearing her calls. He rubbed his eyes. He felt so tired. Christine had reprimanded him for not taking care of himself.

* * *

"Stephen, I know you think the fate of the Earth depends on you but you need to take care of yourself. I'm not going to always be here to take care of you."

"Well, Wong checks on me very often. Thor drops by occasionally. I also have Sophie. "

"Wong lives in Kamar-Taj. "

"Which is only a portal away."

"But could he bring food for you all the time? Could he check whether you rest enough?"

"There is Thor ..."

"I don't think Thor is the type who brings you food and asks you to rest."

"Well, he brings Pop Tarts occasionally."

"Sure, it's such a balanced diet. You should've known better. Besides, how often does Thor drop by?"

"Only when he heard news about Loki or Thanos whereabouts. Or when he needs some magical helps."

"Why can't he use a cellphone like the other Avengers?"

"How do you know the other Avengers use cellphones?"

She quirked her eyebrows. "At this time and age? With Tony I-created-the-StarkPhone21.0-you-can-suck-it-iPhone7 Stark?"

"Thor doesn't trust cellphones since the Sokovia Accords were signed. He said he trusted ravens better. I think my Master of the Mystic Arts image will be ruined with the ravens. Although using a StarkPhone may also have ruined the mystery air I try to garner."

She smiled. "I think it's mostly the cape."

"I think you're just jealous of Sophie."

"You make weird friends."

"Thank you for not using strange. At least I have friends. It's an improvement from before."

She nodded her agreement. "As long as they don't get you killed. And those friends don't get you to take care of yourself."

"I still have Sophie." He gave Sophie a gentle tug. Sophie flew above him and made the gesture of nodding to show her agreement.

"I think I've valid reasons to be jealous." She shook her head. "Anyway, could Sophie bring you food? I know New Yorkers are quite jaded with all the weird happenings in the past few years. I think they still draw the line at a flying cape going to McDonald's."

"I don't eat McDonald's."

"Stephen ..."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what I should do. The fate of the Earth truly depends on the master of the Hong Kong and London Sanctums plus I. Trust me, it has nothing to do with my grand ego."

"I know, Stephen. Your ego is not as massive as it used to be. There are still rooms for improvement of course. My point is who would defend Earth if you fall sick?"

He stared at her eyes. He knew he had the effects on women with his stare as Christine complained to her numerous times before. "I still have you."

She adverted her eyes. "As much as I want to, I can't be here all the time. I have my live."

"Rightly so. And I have mine. And it's to defend Earth from Thanos."

"Why can't the Avengers do it? They have a team for that."

"It's more of a mystical threat rather than the physical ones. Thanos already has four of the Infinity Stones he obtained outside of Earth. I must protect the other two."

"Why can't Wong and the other _non-cult_ members help?"

He was too tired to protest they were still not a cult. "They do. We try as best as we can. But there is no record yet how to defeat him."

"I can't pretend to understand about Thermos and Stones. But you need to eat and sleep. As you said, you hadn't found a way to defeat him. The wise thing to do is to eat and rest. You may get some ideas after your sleep."

He couldn't disagree with her logic so they finally ate dinner together. She brought Chinese. They talked about the latest in medicine. Well, mostly Christine told her about the latest developments. He just listened. To his regret, he hadn't got the time to read medical research. She assured him that he was still saving the world from Thermos. He knew Christine knew how to pronounce Thanos but she just wanted to rile him up a little bit.

She even managed to ask him to have a shower without Sophie tagging along. Sophie seemed to grow fond of Christine. He hoped they didn't conspire something against him like asking Sophie to reduce all the noises so he could sleep for at least six hours.

To his embarrassment, she tugged him in bed. He was just too tired to fight her over. He asked her to lie down next to her just to talk. She said she was not ready yet.

* * *

He woke up eleven hours later with a note from Christine saying that she had left breakfast in the refrigerator.

That was around 15 hours ago. Christine would be furious by now since he didn't hear her call.

Just then there was a knock on the door of the Sanctum. That must be Christine. He put on his most charming smile to melt her heart as he opened the door.

He quickly retrieved his smile as he saw Tony Stark followed by two other strangers at his door.

* * *

 **Notes:**

-I have nothing against McDonald's and iPhone.

-I've made some minor changes in this chapter thanks to the feedback from Unknownnobody32.  
-Feedback and comments are welcome.


	2. The Recruitment

-Unbetaed so I appreciate if you spot any mistakes.  
-I've only watched Civil War and Doctor Strange once so if you see any factual mistakes, please let me know

* * *

He immediately slammed the door in their faces. _He has no time for this_. Whatever Tony Stark was up to, it could be no interest to him. He ignored the shouting, swearing, and knocking at his door. He hoped Stark didn't Iron Man his way in. Although the door and all the places could repair themselves magically, it would not look good on his resume as the Master of the Sanctum to have holes at his door within a year of holding the position. At least Kaecillus had the grace to used portals. Perhaps he should make the spell to make the door invisible to unwanted visitors and unbreakable from brute force. _Why didn't he think of this before?_ He was only worried about the mystical threats and didn't think of the physical threats that could present in this Sanctum. To be fair, he didn't even know that Tony Stark _knew_ he existed. He had tried to stay under the radar especially with the Sokovia Accords in place.

He was in the middle of the creating the spell to make the door invulnerable when the guy in the purple robe phased through the door. He forgot that guy had that power. Well, more like he didn't care what powers those Avengers had. A rookie mistake! He definitely didn't jump four feet high, and he definitely didn't squeak. He'd deny it to his dying days which might be very soon anyway. Sophie made the patting gesture to lower down his heart rate.

"Mister Strange, we would like to talk to you, sorry for the intrusion but it's an emergency," the purple robe said. He surprisingly had a British accent. "My name is Vision. Those two are my associates Tony Stark and Wanda Maximoff. Could you let them in first?"

Finally he found his voice and said, "Do I have to? I'm quite busy at the moment." He gestured expansively toward the scrolls scattered throughout the room. He winced as he didn't realize how messy this place got. Christine would kill him.

"You have to." Vision pointed toward the gem in his forehead. "I have the Mind Stone. I heard you have the Time Stone. We must work together."

That certainly piqued his interest. He knew the Mind Stone was with the Avengers but he didn't know the details. He didn't realize the Avengers were aware that it was an Infinity Stone. But again Thor was an Avenger.

"If you said so." He walked to the door to open it to face a gleeful Tony Stark ( _that can never be good!_ ) and a worried Wanda Maximoff.

He stepped aside and let them in.

He gritted his teeth as Tony walked in with aplomb as if he owned the place. Wanda was timid and she immediately walked to Vision's side.

The billionaire poked at a few of artifacts. When he picked up a fountain pen with some detailed flower patterns, Stephen quickly took it away from him. "Don't touch it unless you want to blast Manhattan to smithereens." OK, he might exaggerate a bit. It was more likely to create a rather large crate but they didn't know that. "Don't touch anything that you don't know. In fact, don't touch anything here."

Stark raised his sunglasses and peered at him. "Really? That pen can blow Manhattan up? What's this? A James Bond's pen? Actually, it's not a bad idea." The billionaire quickly raised his right hand and talked to his watch. "Friday, did you get that? We could use this as a weapon for Rhodey."

Stephen jumped the second time today when he heard a female voice coming from Tony's watch. "Affirmative, sir."

That must be some sort of Artificial Intelligence. The former neurosurgeon wished he had such things when he performed operations. Life would be much easier. But he had no needs for such things now. He shook his head wistfully. He then remembered his uninvited guests. "Mr Stark, what do you want? I certainly hope you don't come here to get some ideas for your weapons."

"Mr Strange? Or should I call you Stephen? Vincent? Or Steve? Perhaps not Steve. We already had one too many goody two-shoes in my team. Not that I think you'd be a goody two-shoe. I heard quite the opposite about you. The sport cars, the socialite parties, …"

He needed to stop Stark from wasting his time. "You can call me Doctor Strange. And the answer is no, I don't want to join your team."

"You're testy about your title, aren't you? _Doctor_ Strange!" Only Stark could make the word doctor sounded like something he picked up from under his shoes. "Who said I wanted to invite you to my team?"

"Then why're you here?"

"I want to invite you to join the Avengers lead by Captain America and I. You know Cap, right? The patriotic one with the shield? The one got frozen for 70 years?"

"What's the difference if it's your team or whoever's team? I still don't want to join."

"Hey, the leaderships are important. Cap's team and my team are still a bit wary of each other so we form a sort of alliance where we both are leaders. I think you might be interested in joining because we're dealing with Thanos. You can even choose to be team Cap or team Iron Man in our alliances. I'd rather you choose Team Iron Man though. I'll give away StarkPhones and StarkPads with Friday included. We also give free health insurances, not that you need it given you're a doctor, or perhaps you need more given your condition …"

Once again he interrupted the billionaire. "Are you also dealing with Thanos?" He shouldn't rise to the bait but he was at his ropes end about Thanos.

"Sure, the annoying purple guy, who Thor said doesn't want to get up from his chair. He wants all the Infinity Stones for himself which will be bad news for Midgard, I'm sorry, Earth, but you know Thor so of course you've heard of Midgard. Since you're a magical protector of Midgard from other realms, whatever that means, I take it that you're interested in joining us."

"I thought Thor didn't want to involve the Avengers. That's why he contacted me."

"I guess Big Blondie changed his mind and forgot to inform you. He should have taken the StarkPhone. I take it that you use a phone rather than telepathy or whatever method sorcerers communicate." He looked around to search for Stephen's phone. He smiled when he saw the sorcerer's StarkPhone on the coffee table. "There is a hope for you after all. I could upgrade it with Friday for you."

Stephen was still shocked that Thor actually involved the Avengers to fight against Thanos so he didn't listen what Stark said properly. He didn't want more inexperienced people died. "I can't join your team."

"Is that about Friday? Fine, if you don't want an advanced AI in your phone. You can join even Team Cap if you want."

"What?" The sorcerer was surprised with all these off-tangent outbursts. "No, I'm not joining any team. It's too dangerous. The Avengers deal with the physical threats while the sorcerers deal with the magical ones. I can't work with you."

"Who said the threats are only magical? Does this look magical to you?"

Stark pressed a button in his watch. There is a holographic 3D display in the middle of his living room showing civilians running around when some green aliens were destroying some buildings. The hologram looked amazingly like some of his spells.

Stark pressed a button again and the holographic display disappeared. "That happened a few hours ago in Prague. I guess you don't watch this news." He shook his head. "I see. Don't worry, we have it handled. I'm just worried that this will occur more often given Thanos is the leader of these aliens. That's why we need to work together. I get it, we physical, you, magical."

"We can work together even without becoming a team."

"Jeez, what's wrong with you? If you think you work better alone, you're wrong. I used to be like you until I am not. OK, I know it's not very explanatory but believe me, team work can produce more results than working alone. Hey, don't make me give you a Cap speech about togetherness."

The sorcerer thought about Mordo and why he left. It was because of him and it still hurt. He remembered the Ancient One and how she said her time was up after waiting for him. He thought about Wong and some other sorcerers who died protecting the Sanctum until he reversed the time. He couldn't see the few friends he had died. He just couldn't. He thought about his sister. "I don't want anyone close to me die."

"Do you think we want to? I don't plan on dying. Pepper would kill me if I died. We've better chances of surviving if we work together. Besides, we are not purely physical force, there are some magic in us too. If you two lovebirds are done, could you please show _Doctor_ Strange what you can do?"

At least the _doctor_ now just sounded like a tease, not a mini mockery, so there was some improvement. Stephen looked at the two other strangers. He had forgotten about them as they were so quiet.

Wanda moved her hands in the air. Suddenly a chair and a table near Stephen were lifted to the air. She then made some more movements to put the chair and table back to its original position.

"Telekinesis without a spell!" Stephen thought, "I wish I could do that."

As if reading his mind, Stark added, "A very cool power. I wish I could do that. I'm mostly blasting through stuff. Speaking of blasting!" Stark put on a gauntlet that he somehow retrieved from his suitcase when Stephen was not looking. He directed his gauntlet at the coffee table.

The doctor winced. _No, you don't, not on my watch!_ Before he conjured a spell to stop the blast, suddenly there was an orange light containing the blast then neutralizing it. He realized that the containment energy came from Wanda. _A powerful witch indeed._

Stark stopped his blast. "You can see what she can do without training. With proper training from you, imagine what else she could do."

Stephen could think of endless possibilities. She could create pockets to contain the creatures from other dimensions.

"From the light in your eyes, I see that you're interested. By the way, she could also read and control minds but she usually doesn't do that to her allies," Stark added. "You should be grateful."

"I certainly am," the sorcerer replied. He didn't really like people poking in his mind. "If Wanda could do this, what could Vision do besides phasing?"

"Doctor Strange, I'm made from Vibranium so I'm durable so you don't need to worry about me getting hurt, at least not physically. I can manipulate my density to create super strength. I don't think I need to demonstrate those. I can conjure up objects." Vision conjured a red cape and gave it to Wanda to hold.

"Hey, you can be Cape Bros with Thor and Vision." Of course it was Stark who interrupted with the comment.

Vision ignored him. "I can also fly." He then levitated three feet from the ground before returning back to the ground.

Stephen could feel that Sophie was vibrating with excitement to see someone else levitated. At least she contained herself so Stark and his friends were not aware that she was sentient.

"I can also blast things with this gem." He pointed at the stone on his forehead.

Stark promptly produced a metal plate to let Vision blasted it using the Mind Stone. Before the metal pieces hit the floor, Wanda contained them with her energy and put them back into Stark's suitcase.

Vision said, "I know these powers are mostly physical. However, I have the Mind Stone so I understand the burdens of responsibility of taking care of an Infinity Stone. I have this stone since my birth so I understand it more than the rest of the people. I believe you need people who understand the stones."

Stark continued, "OK, sales pitch is over. Are you in?"

 _How could he reject someone who had the other Stone?_ Besides, Wanda's powers piqued his interests. "Can I do it on trial basis? I don't want to be a full-fledged Avenger but I guess we could work together."

The billionaire smiled. "That's good enough for me. You wouldn't believe the fights we got into before we formed the Avengers. Luckily, we don't have the pre-recruitment fight."

Stephen didn't know the details but if all of the Avengers were like Tony, he wouldn't be surprised. He gave a small smile. "There won't be any fight. I would've sent all of you to another dimension to save my energy."

Stark walked closer and patted him on the shoulder. "I should resent that statement but I'm just glad we're on the same team. We could be Facial Hair Bros since my Science Bro is preoccupied. By the way, you are invited to Avengers' Thanksgiving Party at the Avengers Tower tonight at 7 pm. Capes are optional."

 _It's already 5 pm now! He doesn't want to go to any party. He needs to do more research._ He then heard Christine's voice in his head reprimanding him of not taking care of himself. Besides, he needed to discuss strategy with Captain America. He heard Cap was a great tactician and strategist. They definitely needed strategies and tactics to defeat Thanos. Actually, the more he thought about that the more he was excited to meet Cap in person. "I'll be there. One question. Why did they choose you rather than the other Avengers to approach me?"

Stark winked. "You need to ask Cap that question. He was the one sending me here. Not that I wouldn't volunteer as I'm a people's person."

Stephen could see Wanda rolled her eyes. Vision shook his head as apparently he couldn't roll his eyes.

Wanda finally spoke. She had a quite melodic Eastern European accent. "I'll see you tonight, Doctor Strange. We can exchange knowledge."

"It's a pleasure to make you acquaintance." Vision bowed. He and Wanda then linked hands and walked to the door. She opened the door and they walked out. "Be there or be square!" With that, Stark left the Sanctum with a flair which was quite an achievement given he didn't have any billowing cloak or cape.

Stephen closed the door. "Sophie, what've we gotten into?"

* * *

-I wrote this in hurry before the Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to the American readers.  
-I hope they are in characters. Somehow Tony took over this chapter. Of course he does, he is Tony Stark.  
-I don't plan to write the training or the tactics because everything will be jossed anyway. I don't even know which stones Thanos would be after first. In this story, I just made that the remaining stones are in Midgard.  
I just want to write Avengers' interaction in the next chapter. It'll be published after Thanksgiving so it won't be festive special.  
-As usual, comments and feedback are welcome.


	3. The Entrance

-Unbetaed, not a native speaker so please kindly point out any mistakes.

* * *

Stephen got nervous when the time for the party was approaching.

He had called Christine earlier to apologize that he overslept which she accepted. She was surprised that he knew how to apologize. He asked her whether he should go to the party. She said of course he should, he needed all the help he could get before he worked himself into the ground.

To be honest, he was nervous. He really didn't do party anymore, not since he became a sorcerer so his people skills were quite rusty. He also didn't want people asked him about his accident and his hands.

"What should I do, Sophie? Can I fake sickness and cancel attending?" He didn't feel silly anymore to talk to Sophie when no one was around.

Sophie promptly slapped him.

"I guess that's a no. I often wonder which side you are on. I bet Stark's Artificial Intelligence doesn't work against him."

Sophie lifted quickly off the air and gave off the aura of being offended.

"Not that I'd trade you with anything, even with the best AI in the world. You're my friend. You're always there for me. You've saved me countless times. Where would I be without you?"

Sophie bobbed her collars a little and returned to settle back to his shoulders.

"Thank you. I know that I'm an ass but you're stuck with me."

Sophie responded by tickling his face.

"I'd better check the battlefield first."

He sat in the lotus position and sent his astral projection to the Avengers Tower. He floated through each floor until he found where the party was. There were many people there. He thought the Avengers only had less than 10 members. Had Iron Man and Cap been busy recruiting?

He ignored the crowd and tried to find Stark. It was not hard. Just found the center of a big crowd and Stark would be right in the middle. That was what he used to do and he was right. He heard Stark was telling some jokes which the crowd ate it up.

It'd take a while so he did the only thing he could think of. He used his telepathy to prompt Stark to go the bathroom. He knew it was not what the authors of books he read in mind when they taught how to become a telepath but desperate times called for desperate measures. There was Thanos' threat looming. Besides, Stark had drunk so much alcohol, it was best if he went to use the bathroom. He should remind Stark to drink more water later.

He followed Stark until the outside of the bathroom and quickly flew back to his body. He used his sling ring to open a portal just outside the bathroom and leaned on the wall as if he had been waiting there the whole time.

As soon as the bathroom's door opened, he called out, "Hi, there."

Stark jumped. "Jeez, _Doctor_ Strange, you could have given me a heart attack there. Do you know how creepy you look waiting outside a bathroom? Is that what Wizards do in their spare time? I know there were a lot of things Rowling left out."

"I'm a sorcerer, not a wizard."

"Meh, same different. So why do you seek me out instead of going to the party directly like a normal people?"

Stephen looked down at his feet. " We both know that I don't do normal. I'm Strange." He smiled a little at his own pun. "Well, you invited me so I thought I would seek you out first."

Stark chuckled. "You're nervous, aren't you? I thought you were unflappable, the great _Doctor_ Strange."

"I used to be able to demand people's attention whenever I enter a place. Now I can't even start a conversation without mentioning about people's aura, destiny, and their impending dooms. Not to mention I could see ghosts and all other creatures from other dimensions around us. They can be quite distracting."

Tony looped a hand around Stephen's shoulders. "Come on, Haley Joel Osment. You could be joking but your sense of humor seems to be lacking so you must be serious. Let me introduce you to the group. You'll be fine because the rest of us, except perhaps me, are quite misfits."

Stephen was about to argue that his sense of humor was fine when he felt Tony's hand accidentally brushed his neck. He had a brief glimpse of vision that Tony in his armour fighting against Thanos' army. He also saw Tony grieved over a fallen comrade. He would have fallen forward if Tony and Sophie didn't support him.

"Are you all right? You look like you have seen ghosts. I'm not even sure they're literal or metaphorical for your case. Wait, is your cape sentient? Of course it is. Yours is way cooler than Thor's in that case."

Stephen went to hold the nearest wall to rest. "It's a cloak. In fact, _she_ is a cloak." Tony raised his eyebrows but Stephen was not going to explain about his choice of pronoun. "I'm fine. I just have visions. Destiny has dire plans for you, my friend."

"No shit, Sherlock. Of course everyone has dire destiny given the Thanos looming threats. I can see now how your people skills are rusty. You don't start conversation with someone you know by telling their dooms. Although you call me friend so I'm quite honored. Are you all right? You look a bit pale."

Stephen sighed. "My friend" was just a phrase he often used, although Tony might be the closest to being a friend in his hermitic state. "I'll be all right. I just need to get a few seconds to get my bearing."

"How do you even function in society if touching someone causing you pains?"

"Who said I'm functioning?" Stark snorted. "I don't go out except on missions. Apparently the Sanctum got stocked up on food magically. Or Wong or some other acolytes did the shopping for me. I actually need to ask Wong about it. I can usually block my mind so I don't get readings from others unless the person is asking for help. I must be too tired so I forget to put up my mental block."

"Wow, just wow. People said I don't take care of myself but you're even worse. You should meet Pepper so I look much better."

Stephen felt like himself again. He straightened up. "It's not something to be proud of, Stark. I'll rest when the Thanos' threat is gone."

"Oh my sweet summer child. There is _always_ a looming threat. In fact there can be more than one in a day. They're superhero's staple food."

"I'm not a superhero."

"You need to lighten up. Since we face dangers every day, we need to seize the moment to have fun. Come, let's party."

"Don't you mean strategic meeting?"

"You really are the _life_ of the party. We can multitask or they don't teach that at Hogwarts."

"Kamar-Taj." Stephen blushed and realized Tony's point.

At that time, a teenager ran towards them. "Mr Stark, here you are. You've been gone for so long so we are worried." He skidded to a halt right in front of them. "Oh, you have company." He looked curiously at Stephen. "I didn't see you coming in and I have been here since the beginning of the party. How did you come in? Are you a superhero? You dress like one. I've never met so many superheroes and also gods or aliens in one place." The boy practically vibrated with excitement.

"Calm down, kiddo. Let's say he came in by a mean of his own." Stark winked at Stephen. "Come on, guys, introduce yourself. This's going to be good." He brushed his hands together.

"Hi, I'm Peter Parker."

Peter extended his hands which Stephen received with his gloved hand.

"Doctor Strange."

"Oh, are we using our made-up name? In that case, I'm Spiderman."

Stephen raised his left eyebrow. He was about to respond when due to his excitement, Peter tripped over his own two feet. Stephen caught him. At that time, Peter's hands touched Stephen's uncovered arms. Stephen had a vision of Peter hanging by one arm in a spaceship. The doctor staggered backward. Both of them would've fallen if it were not for Sophie and Tony catching them.

He sighed dramatically. "You two are hopeless. The Earth' mightiest heroes. I think we're doomed."

Stephen looked at Peter who had still holding on to him. At this stage, he was not sure who actually stopped who from falling. "Destiny has dire plans for you."

Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, I don't know how to respond to that."

Stark dragged Peter away from Stephen. "Just ignore him, kiddo. It's his catchphrase. That's why he was never invited into any Avengers' party."

"Is there any Avengers' part I was not invited into?"

Tony brushed Peter's hair affectionately. "Of course not. You're always welcome."

Stephen felt the need to explain himself. "You don't even know I existed until recently so how could I be invited to your party? Not that I want to attend your party in the first place." He resisted the urge to make a dramatic exit because he remembered the point of him coming here—to discuss strategies facing Thanos and find the rest of the Infinity Stones.

"You really need to lighten up, Strange."

Stephen brushed his face with his hands. "Sorry. I've been running on fumes. I shouldn't tell your son outright about his destiny."

Both Tony and Peter answered simultaneously.

"I'm not his son."

"He is not my father. Hang on, is your name really Strange? How about the Doctor part?"

Stephen sighed. "Yes, my name is Doctor Stephen Strange. I'm indeed a doctor. I used to be a neurosurgeon. I'm sorry to assume that you two are family with the way you behave. Besides, I've heard rumours about Stark having a lot of children. Tabloid rumors of course."

Tony put a hand to his heart and gasped. "I didn't know you read tabloids, Doc. Had it been slow day at Hogwarts so you read gossips?"

"What do you mean by Hogwarts, Mr Stark?"

"Oh, don't you know it? The good doctor here is the Wizard Supreme aka the magic guy." Tony said the last part as if it offended his common sense.

"Magic is real?!"

Stephen nodded. He expected some sort of mockery. Instead, Peter said, "Cool."

He could see why Tony liked the kid.

At that time, a blond buff guy appeared. "Tony, Peter, are you OK? You both take forever to appear. Oh, I don't know we have company. You must be the esteemed Doctor Strange."

Stephen's jaw dropped open. That was Captain America, his childhood hero, standing right in front of him and calling him "esteemed".

* * *

 **Notes:**

-The first two chapters were writen before Thor:Ragnarok so there might be some inconsistencies about Strange and Thor's meeting and relationship. Just ignore it. Also please ignore the inconsitencies between this story and the rest of the series. It's an AU for my series as I want to finish this story before Infinity War airs. It's also an AU from Infinity War where noone dies or gets hurt. This was also quite early in the series so Stephen didn't know the Avengers well.  
-In the comic, Stephen often blacked out due to his visions. Stephen being a fan to Cap is from Scott Derrickson's comment.  
-In the "Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War Prelude" which is a prelude MCU comic, Wong told Stephen about all the Infinity Stones so at least the part about Stephen knows about all the stones is MCU canon.  
-I was stuck with this story for a long time as I got writers' block regarding the big characters' interaction. I need to force myself to write this chapter before the IW airs. I hope it turns out all right.  
-The next chapter is hopefully the last one.


	4. Together

-Unbetaed so please kindly point out any mistakes.

* * *

"Doctor, you need to let go of my hand."

"Sorry." He was about to release Cap's hand when he saw the vision of Cap fighting Thanos.

"Destiny has dire…" Someone covered his mouth. Of course it was Stark.

"That's enough of Doom talk in my party. Are you sure your name is not Doctor Doom? Come on, you're so late for the party."

He pushed Stark's hand away from his mouth, "Did you wash your hand? You just came from the bathroom."

Stark rolled his eyes. "Stating the obvious as usual, I think you're more of a Watson than a Sherlock. Of course I've washed my hands. Jarvis didn't raise no fool."

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, my parents died so Jarvis practically raised me." Stark walked quickly ahead.

Cap followed. "Tony, I know it's still a sore point for you. We need to talk."

"Later, Cap. Party awaits."

Stephen looked at Peter. "What's that all about?"

He shrugged. "It's complicated. I only know part of the story anyway. What kind of magic do you do? What number am I thinking?"

Stephen knew Peter changed the subject abruptly but it was not his place to pry.

"You're not thinking of numbers, you're thinking of flapjacks."

Peter squeaked. "I wasn't."

Stephen raised his left eyebrow.

"OK, I totally was. How cool is that? So do you know telepathy? Or do you have foresight?"

"I've dabbled in both."

Peter covered his face with his hands. "Oh, no, so you totally know all my secrets."

Stephen smiled. "I don't. I usually honour people's privacy unless a life is at stake. Besides your secret is with me, trust me, I'm a doctor." He winked and quickened his pace.

Peter ran to catch up. "Wait? Like the Doctor Doctor? Not like the Doctor in Doctor Who?"

"Who?"

"Exactly. Doctor Who."

"Who?"

"The Doctor in the show Doctor Who."

"Who?"

Peter groaned. "I really don't know how to explain it."

Stephen ruffled Peter's hair. "I was messing with you. I know Doctor Who. Have been a big fan in fact."

"That's so not cool. I mean the messing with me part but it's cool that you're a Doctor Who fan. You still haven't answered me. What kind of doctor are you?"

"The medical one and also the PhD one."

Peter's eyes widened comically. "Wow, cool. I know I've been using cool a lot lately but I do know more vocabulary."

"You don't need to explain, kid."

They turned a corner and arrived at the party.

Stark quickly announced, "Here is the magician, _Doctor_ Strange, the Expresso Supreme. Strange is his actual name, not a nickname."

Stephen quickly corrected. "Sorcerer Supreme although I'm the acting Sorcerer Supreme, not the official one yet. There's a tournament for that."

"Yeah, whatever, he is of course fashionably late. Not that his robe is in fashion. Perhaps back in the 18th century. But anyway, he knows all about the Infinity Stones and Thanos. But before we talked about that, perhaps you can introduce yourself and mingle a bit first."

Peter added, "And he is a real doctor too, the medical one and also the PhD one."

A female voice from the back said, "Another white boy doctor? What's the obsession with doctorates in this room? Doctor Banner, how many doctorates do you have? Doctor Stark, how about you?"

Another voice quickly chimed in. "Please forgive my sister, Shuri, she is brilliant but she never shuts up. I'm T'challa."

T'challa and Shuri went forward to shake Stephen's hand.

Peter whispered at Stephen's ear. "He is the new king of Wakanda. His made-up name is Black Panther. Shuri is super genius."

Stephen looked at T'challa. "Should I bow?"

"You don't need to."

Shuri looked at Stephen's shaking hands. "I think Wakandan medicine might be able to fix those if you want."

There was a surge of hope in his chest but then Stephen remembered that he had chosen different path for the rest of his life. "Thank you for the offer. These scars serve as a reminder who I used to be."

"White people are so strange." She seemed to be so proud of her pun.

T'challa quickly dragged his sister away. "Please excuse us, there is a canapé with your name on it."

Stephen could still hear Shuri's voice saying that she was 90% sure she could heal him. Bless her heart.

Peter still lingered nearby.

Thor went forward and clasped Stephen's shoulders. "Sorcerer Doctor Strange, I'm glad you can meet my friends from work."

"Brother, it's not called work if you don't get paid." Of course Loki was with Thor. The God of Mischief hissed at Stephen. "I can't say it's a pleasure to see you again, second rate sorcerer."

"Brother, please be polite. Do you want to fall for thirty minutes again? We need to work together even if we don't get paid."

"Why? They are idiots."

"Because we are the idiots who live in it." A man came forward and shook Stephen's hand. "I'm Star Lord."

Peter added, "And his real name is Peter Quill. He is half human, half planet. How cool is that? " He scrunched his forehead. "I'm not sure how it works biologically."

Stephen said, "Life finds a way. You're too young to know about it anyway." Not that he himself had any clue.

"I'm fifteen! Will be sixteen in two months' time."

"Terrans are so preoccupied with ages and numbers. I'm Drax. I'm with Peter. The tall Peter. We're the Guardians of the Galaxy." A very muscular man without any shirt came forward and shook Stephen's hand.

"Do you really guard the galaxy?" The smaller Peter asked. "From who?"

"Every threat in the galaxy." Drax puffed up his chest. "My reflexes are really fast."

"So you claim but I could kick your ass anytime." A green woman came forward. "Please ignore these idiots. I'm Gamora. I guess you've my heard of my father, Thanos."

"Thanos is your father?!" Peter asked.

"Well, he adopted me."

Thor clasped Loki's shoulder. "Just like you brother, except you're blue and she's green."

Loki literally face palmed. "Just how much drink do you have, my _adopted brother_?"

"I can't get drunk from Midgardian ales. I'm just so happy we can all be here together."

Gamora dragged a blue woman to come forward. "This is Nebula. My sister, well adopted sister. Both of us were adopted by Thanos. We hate Thanos so we'll do anything to help you."

Nebula hissed. "I said I'm going to help you, sister, but I don't want to mingle with Terrans. I hate everything."

Thor added, "Loki, she is just like you and she is blue too."

It was Loki's turn to hiss. He came forward and asked Nebula, "Do you want to get away from here and plot our siblings' demise together?"

Nebula shrugged. "Sure. Anything to get away from here." She waved her hands around to include all of them.

They both left.

Stephen asked, "Are you sure it's OK for them to plot together?"

Thor shrugged. "It's fine. Loki always plots my demise every Tuesday and Friday."

Gamora also shrugged. "Nebula does that every Monday and Thursday."

Stephen shook his head. If only he still had his siblings…

A woman with antennas in her head came forward and shook his hand, "I'm Mantis. Wow, Doctor Strange, you have so much sadness and loneliness in you. You miss your siblings and family. You also worry a lot about Thanos and other threats. Everything will be OK."

"I'm not.."

She quickly put her hand at his neck, suddenly Stephen felt like heavy weighs had been lifted from his chest and he felt reliefs. Some happy tears came out of his eyes and couldn't control it. He felt light headed. Luckily Peter quickly came by and supported him.

Mantis quickly released her hold. "I'm sorry, I must 've used too much of my power on you but your sadness is so great."

At that time Stark came by, "Strange, already crying because of a girl. How Espresso Supreme of you! Earth is so doomed."

Stephen drew some deep breaths and used his calming techniques to release the left over influence from Mantis. She must be an empath. "Don't you have anything else to do? Like marketing the Stark Raving Hazelnut that you claimed Ben and Jerry named after you?"

Stark put his hands in his heart. "Stephen, I told you in confidence. How could you?"

"Who's Stephen?" The small Peter asked.

Stark pointed at Stephen. "He is Stephen. Well, his name is Stephen Vincent Strange but he tends to ask people to call him Doctor Strange for same reason. Overcompensating perhaps?"

Before Stephen could retort, a racoon carrying a big gun came over. Stephen had seen so many interdimensional weird creatures and monsters lately so a talking racoon was merely a blib on his radar. "You Terrans are so boring and tedious. Of course you like to overcompensate." The racoon looked at a metallic arm that belonged to a guy standing next to Cap at the far side of the room. "Oh, I need that man's arm." The racoon quickly strolled away toward Cap.

Peter added, "That was Rocket. Don't call him racoon. Somehow it's offensive. Hang on, if Rocket is here, where is Groot?"

At that time, a walking tree came forward and said, "I'm Groot."

"I'm Doctor Strange."

"Stephen Strange," Tony chimed in.

"I'm Groot."

"Nice to meet you, too. Yes, I know Rocket doesn't really need that arm."

"I'm Groot."

"You need to ask Stark to buy you the Stark Raving Hazelnut. I'm sure he has a lot of stocks because it's named after him. Overcompensating."

Star Lord stared at Stephen. "Do you genuinely understand what Groot was saying?"

"Of course. How do you understand Groot?"

"We use this comm device that could translate aliens' language. How do you understand?"

"I often travel to other dimensions so I use spells to that can automatically translate any language to English."

Peter Quill whistled. Peter Parker looked star struck.

Stark was annoyed that he was not the center of attention anymore. "Let's have some refreshment. All those crying and multidimensional translating must have made you hungry."

Stephen wanted to deny it but he was actually famished. He couldn't remember the last time he ate. "I agree."

Stark said, "That's a first."

Peter Parker breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally! It's like watching a tennis match between two awesome dads with goatees." He realized what he just said and turned beet red. "I saw some flapjacks with my name on it over there. Ciao."

Stark smiled. "He's a good kid."

Stephen nodded. "I agree."

Stark quickly said, "That doesn't mean anything. We're not together together and your fashion sense is still terrible."

"When pigs fly then we can be _together_ in whatever sense you meant." Stephen pondered a bit. "Actually, I've seen blue pigs that can fly in the Realm of Asdionueous so that's a terrible analogy. And your sense of humor is still terrible."

"Hey, boys. Having fun?" A blond woman who Stephen knew was Black Widow approached and gave a little hand wave.

Tony squeaked. "I've seen her reduced ten men twice her size to tears after she spoke that phrase. Strange, if you value for your life, run." He heeded his own advice and ran to the food table.

That left Stephen stood awkwardly with Natasha. He didn't even realize the rest of the Avengers, including the young Peter, and Guardians had gone elsewhere. He extended his right hand. "Uh, hi, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. You must be the esteemed Black Widow."

Black Widow shook his hand and smiled. "A pleasure to finally meet you. You can call me Natasha. Tony has been raving about you after he returned from your place yesterday. Well, in his own way. He complained a lot about you which meant he likes you. Are you not going to run like Tony?"

"Won't you be able to catch up with me if you put your mind to it?"

Natasha showed more of her teeth as she released his hand. "You're smarter than you look and definitely has a better sense of self-preservation compared to Tony. Let's eat. I'm not scary if you don't do anything wrong."

Stephen had heard how scary she could be but wisely kept it to himself. He followed her lead.

Tony certainly knew how to throw a party. The food available in the party could feed the whole Kamar-Taj and some neighbouring area for one whole month. At least he provided some vegan choices that Stephen approved.

As he was picking up some food, a man approached him and extended his hand. Stephen put his plate down and shook his hand. "Hi, I'm Scott Lang. My made-up name is Ant-Man. You must be the magic guy, Doctor Strange."

Stephen smirked. Peter must have told everyone he met about their encounter. He immediately liked Lang, he seemed to such a genuine person. "I dabbled in Mystic Arts. You can call me Stephen. So what does Ant-Man do? Do you actually know how to control ants?"

"Sort of, I could communicate with ants. I could also shrink to their sizes or grew much larger than normal human. I could also travel to Quantum Realm although that was mostly by accident."

"Quantum Realm? I've been there. Your powers are actually very interesting and different from the rest of them. How do you shrink and expand yourself? Is Hank Pym involved?"

"You've heard of Hank Pym?!"

"Of course. I was interested in his research. I think shrinking some equipment might be handy for some neurological operations."

Scott slapped his own forehead. "I keep forgetting that you're an actual doctor. Hank is the one creating the Pym Particles to shrink and expand things."

A blond man in purple shirt came to pick up some pizzas. "Scott, let the good Doctor eat." He extended his hand at Stephen. "I'm Clint Barton. You can call me Clint. I'm…"

"Hawkeye." Stephen answered. "I know the original Avengers. Well, at least by name. Not personally."

Clint whistled. "And I thought I was the most obscure Avengers. I think most of the Avengers PR team forget about me."

"Well, you saved New York. I heard a lot of your heroic efforts during the Chitauri invasion when I was at the hospital. At least you reduced my workload."

Clint seemed to glow at his praise.

Natasha approached and shook her head. "Clint, you're as bad as Scott. Let Doctor Strange eat."

She stirred Stephen toward Cap's table. She winked at him. "I heard you're a big fan of Cap so you can have a heart-to-heart with him."

Before Stephen could respond, they had arrived.

The man with the metal arm sat next to Steve Rogers while a man with an easy smile glared at the man with the metal arm. "This was my seat. I just went to pick up some juices and you took my seat. Move."

The man with the metal arm smirked. "No, you move."

Cap stood up. "I think this might take a while. Bucky, why don't you take my seat so you and Sam can glare at each other more conveniently? Doctor Strange, please forgive my friends' behaviour. This is Bucky Barnes, my oldest friend."

Bucky shook Stephen's hand. "Nice to meet you, Doctor Strange but I have to maintain my position here so we'll talk later." He returned to glare at Sam.

Cap shook his head. "And the other childish guy is Sam Wilson. He is very loyal and he helped me through my tough time."

Sam smiled and shook Stephen's hand. "A pleasure, Doctor Strange but please excuse me, I need to put the Winter Soldier at his place. We'll talk later." He quickly sat next to Bucky and stole Bucky's pizza.

Cap smiled. "I thought the so called Civil War is between Tony and I but it seems we have mini civil wars among ourselves too. Doctor, I heard you have some questions for me." He stirred Stephen to sit at a corner table.

"Uhm…" Stephen said intelligently.

"About why I asked Tony to recruit you instead of myself?"

"Oh, that. Why?"

"Tony has been down lately and I feel that he needs a win. I asked him to recruit you. I heard that you are quite snarky. I'm sure you'll rise to the challenge when you hear his snarks. Then you'll be intrigued to check us out and hopefully join us which will be great and Tony will feel like he succeeds in something. I'm sure you two will get along like a house on fire."

"I didn't know that Captain America could be so devious. It never appeared in any textbook."

Steve smiled beatifically. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Cap looked so innocent that Stephen wondered that he might have heard the whole thing wrong. But he had an eidetic memory so what Cap said was still fresh in his mind. He shook his head. "Never mind. Your strategy might work. However, anyone recruiting would be fine as long as they know about the stones. I'm also interested in Wanda's powers. If we train her, she could reach her full potential. Having said that, I do enjoy bantering with Stark so thanks."

"I heard that. You like me." Of course Stark chose that time to saunter along.

Steve smiled apologetically. How could that man have so many types of smiles? "Yes, sounds really carry around here so we don't usually talk personal stuffs at this corner. But it's good that you like each other."

Stephen suspected that Cap brought him to this corner on purpose.

Stark said, "I didn't say I liked him though."

"Tony, we are not in preschools." The voice was coming from a tall man who followed Tony. He extended his hand to Stephen. "Colonel James Rhodes."

"Doctor Stephen Strange. I'm sorry about your accident."

"Thank you. I'm fine now. Thanks to Shuri. She is a gem."

Tony nodded. "Yup. She scoffed when I asked whether she was interested to be an intern here. She said she had more funding in Wakanda and the technology here was so outdated. If she were not so smart and classy, I'd have been offended."

The colonel clasped Tony's shoulders. "I know you're enamoured by her. We all are. I think your Peter is also smitten by her."

"He is not my Peter."

Spider-Man yelled from the far corner. "And I'm not smitten by her."

Shuri who was standing next to Parker said, "You totally are. It's so cute when you blush. Let's science together. Well, as soon as this meeting is over."

At that time, a man came to join Tony. "I think they stole our line." He extended his hand at Stephen. "Hi, I'm Bruce Banner. You must be Doctor Stephen Strange that Tony has been raving about."

Stephen shook his hand. "Doctor Bruce Banner, it's an honour to meet you."

Tony pouted. "I totally haven't. Strange's inflated head doesn't need any more boost. Gandalf, you have met everyone. We should have the meeting."

Stephen hadn't finished his dinner with so much interruption but he didn't mind. Duty was more important.

In the meeting, he was surprised that most of them had been in contact with one or two infinity stones. Perhaps they were not so clueless after all.

Stark, Banner, Peter Parker, Shuri, and Rocket would work together to build anything to strengthen their defence system. Thor, Loki, Stephen, and the Guardians would go to collect or safeguard the rest of the stones that were not on Earth. Cap and Black Widow would strategize and train the rest of the team for upcoming battles.

Stephen asked Cap after the meeting about how they were going to defeat Thanos who was much more powerful than any of the enemies they had encountered.

Cap smiled and said, "Together."

Well, no matter what the outcome of the war was, Stephen felt for the first time that he was not alone. There were other people who fought the good fight along with him. He felt a surge of hope rising in his chest. Sophie seemed to agree as she caressed his face.

* * *

 **Notes:**

-And they all live happily ever after and they snark, banter, and fight for parenting Shuri and Peter Parker.  
-Most of my stories were written before any Infinity War promos were out so I was surprised that Tony and Stark interacted a lot like I expected. I love their banters in all the promos. Stephen didn't really talk using archaic words here :) Of course a lot of their meetings or interactions here were different from the promos but eh it's an AU :)  
-This story didn't turn out like I planned but since I'm going to watch Infinity War tomorrow, I'd better publish this before I watch it. I can't include all characters like Okoye and M'baku whom I really enjoy. I'm sure I miss a lot of other characters as well. (Feel free to discuss the movie with me once you've watched it. I heard it's actually the first part of two movies so there is a big cliffhanger at the end.)

-Forgot to add, the line about flapjack was taken verbatim from the animated series "Ultimate Spider-Man" when Peter first met Doctor Strange.


End file.
